This invention pertains to hard hats for protection of the wearer's head and in particular to two-piece hard hats which enable the hard hat to be disassembled and stored in a conventional brief case.
Visitors to construction or manufacturing sites are often required to wear a hard hat to protect the wearer's head from impact caused by falling objects or from other hazards. Persons who are frequent visitors to such sites generally must carry a hard hat with them to assure that a hard hat will be available when such a visit is made. However, conventional hard hats are generally of a one-piece construction which are bulky and generally difficult to transport.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a two-piece hard hat which can be disassembled to be carried in an ordinary brief case and assembled at a job site for use.
The two-piece hard hat of this invention includes an upper crown member forming a dome and a skirt member which extends downwardly from the periphery of the crown member and forms a brim at its lower end. A tongue and groove joint is formed along a periphery of the crown member and the upper end of the skirt member for joining the two members together. A seal is disposed in the groove to prevent leakage of liquids into the hard hat between the two members. Several clips extend downward from the crown member and engage corresponding studs extending radially outward from the skirt member. The spring members frictionally fit between the heads of the studs and the skirt member to secure the crown and skirt members together.
The hard hat head band and crown straps are attached to the inner side of the skirt member and protective padding can be secured to the inside of the crown member.
The tongue and groove joint between the two members assures that any loading applied to the crown member from falling objects will be transmitted to the skirt member and distributed over the crown straps which cover the wearer's head.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.